Naoki meets Keiko
by DavidWynne
Summary: Haibane Renmei meets Ballroom Dancing


This is a cross-over fan fiction between Haibane Renmei and Ballroom Dancing. As a ballroom dancing enthusiast I couldn't help noticing that the one glaring deficiency in the movie was the complete and total lack of ballroom dancing. I'm sure you will all agree. It does not appear that Abe Yoshitoshi is going to correct this lack any time soon; consequently I had no choice but to write my own story.

Now I do realise that there may be some of you Haibane Renmei connoisseurs who don't know ballroom dancing (surely not all that many) so I have done my best to provide enough explanation of the dancing in my story, without distorting the story line too much. And there may be ballroom dancers who find their way to this story via Google and who have no clue what Haibane Renmei is about. For these people I have included a short description just below. This includes minor spoilers for the movie, but hopefully not too much. Obviously the best way of finding out what the movie is about is to watch it. It is well worth the effort. However, for those of you who can't wait to read my creation:

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There is a town called Guri. It, together with its farming land, is surrounded by walls which are impassable. This town floats somewhere under heaven, not of heaven and not of our world. Or maybe it is in a different dimension. Or in a different universe. No one in this town knows. They know that the only people that can enter and leave the town are the Toga, who carry out trade between the town and the outside. Who the Toga are, no one knows either. The Toga are not allowed to interact or talk with the town people. Instead they communicate via sign language with the Communicator. The Communicator, and his Renmei companions, live in Guri and act as intermediaries between the Toga and the town.

What is the purpose of this town? It is to provide a safe environment for a small number of almost humans called the haibane. The haibane look like humans, actually they look like human teenagers. With the addition that each haibane has a pair of small grey non-functional wings on their back and a softly glowing halo. Not angels, haibane. A haibane is hatched from a cocoon, as a fully formed (but generally young) teenager. Shortly afterwards he or she grows a pair of wings (a very painful event) and is granted a halo. A haibane is present in Guri for a short period of time, maybe two to eight years on average. In this time they need to learn... whatever it is that they need to learn. When they have surmounted their trail or task, they receive a wordless compulsion to leave their companions, walk out to the Western Woods, and there they disappear in a beam of light shining heavenwards. Haibane may cry at the departure of their companions on their Day of Flights, because they will not see them again in Guri. But never at the prospect of their own Day of Flight, since it represents the successful culmination of their life in Guri.

Where they go after this no one knows either, maybe to heaven, or to be reincarnated, or a higher life. Until this Day of Flight, the haibane live in little communities of other haibane, in buildings which humans no longer want. They live almost monastic lifestyles. Every good haibane strives to have a job; however they are not allowed to deal with money. It is the Communicator's job to look after the economic concerns and the interactions between the haibane and the humans. The Communicator also tries to direct and be a guide to the haibane; however they do not interfere with the haibane in their day to day activities. Haibane are only allowed to have second hand items (except food and consumables) and they are expected to live in their communities and support each other and bond with each other. Friendships with humans are not encouraged by the Communicator, but they are not forbidden either. Since, who knows, maybe such a friendship is a necessary part of a haibane's task here in Guri.

The town folk treat the haibane with benign disinterest, happy to see them if one appears in front of them, willing to interact with them as necessary, but generally respectful of the privacy of their lives. Some end up knowing a lot about the haibane because of friendships, but most humans don't really have all that much to do with them. The humans regard the haibane as a blessing upon the town, and the haibane are thankful that the humans let them live their lives without bother.

* * *

Note on names: Haibane Renmei is a Japanese anime movie produced in Japan using the Japanese language for a Japanese audience. It has been dubbed and sub titled in English for English audiences. Accordingly, all the names in the movie, and in my story, are Japanese names. In particular, haibane means 'charcoal coloured (ie grey) wing', Renmei means 'organisation' and Guri is the Japanese pronunciation of the English word 'grey'. Guri is sometimes spelt Glie (but not in my writings), but both refer to the same Japanese word.

This story is in the same story-universe as my Big Ugly Sam fan fiction, located about two decades before the events of Big Ugly Sam. However the two stories are independent and do not rely on each other.

The standard disclaimer: Haibane Renmei is the creation of ABe Yoshitoshi. I'm not sure who owns the copyright, but it certainly ain't me. This story is a fan-fiction work. Anyone can read it, free of charge. Any part of what I write can be used by other fan-fiction authors. However if you want to use this story in any other way, and in particular if you want to use this story for any commercial purposes, don't ask me, ask ABe Yoshitoshi and/or the copyright holders.

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Actual story starts below.

* * *

Naoki carefully entered the column of numbers into the mechanical adding machine, cranking the handle each time. It printed out each number with a rattling sound, and when Naoki pressed the totals button and cranked the handle again, it printed out the total, after even more rattling sounds. The printed numbers were aligned somewhat unevenly across the paper ribbon, but this was the best that their technology could do, so no one minded. He cut off the paper ribbon and stuck it back into the ledge book, aligning the printed numbers with their original handwritten ones.  
He leant back on his chair, stretched his arms and yawned. Almost the end of another working week.  
"Hey, Hibana, where are you?" he called.  
There was a clatter and ten year old Hibana appeared at the doorway.  
"Take this ledger book to your father, and tell him I've left for the weekend." Naoki said.  
"Ok, see you."

Naoki walked out the front of Guri Electrics. Naoki was eighteen, originally employed as an electrical engineer apprentice, but he had discovered that keeping the books was more his style. It might be boring on occasion, but he could envisage himself doing the books for a few decades without destroying his soul in the process. Finding a compatible job in a society of only ten thousand people could be difficult, so he wasn't complaining. As for what else he might be doing with his next few decades, well...  
There was an impromptu gathering of young people under the tree outside Guri Logistics, right next door. A couple of young engineers, plus several young men from the Logistics company, and, Naoki noted with extreme interest, the young lady who currently worked at the florist across the street. He was just barely on speaking terms with her. She was also eighteen, with a nice figure and auburn hair. Naoki thought she had a very nice smile.  
"Ahh, hello Keiko" he said to her. She smiled back at him and said "Hi. We're all going to the tavern and then buying take-away from the cafe, would you like to come along?"  
"Ahh, sorry, I promised my parents I would be home for tea, ahh, sorry." said Naoki.  
"Ok, that's all right." said Keiko. She and the others set off on their social evening, leaving Naoki behind.  
Actually he hadn't promised his parents anything, and he knew that they would not object. He shuffled off towards his home.  
"Why couldn't I just have said yes and enjoyed myself?" Especially in the company of Keiko.  
He was much too intelligent to deceive himself on such a question, so the next question was  
"How do I get more social confidence?"  
At the moment he didn't know.

He ambled, with no particular urgency, along the road out of Guri. The sun was low in the sky, but was still lighting up the shallow valley that contained the town site. In the gaps between the buildings could be seen the start of the farming areas, rising up the sides of the valley and extending into the distance. By the time he had come to the edge of the town the road could be seen continuing through the farming district, pass the patch of trees where his parent's house was, past Old Home where there was a nest of haibane, and on into the hazy distance. On either side the Wall could be seen, holding in the town of Guri and its farming areas and all of its people, creating a safe little enclave for them.  
Naoki's mood improved as he walked up the road. Winter was just over and the weather was warming up, the fields were turning green, the nearby river was babbling away, it was hard not to become positive.  
"Next time he would definitely say yes!" he told himself.

And as he walked along another track joined the road, and without much warning he found himself waking in the same direction as someone else.  
She looked to be about eighteen, with long black hair tied in a pony tail, and wearing a dress which was noticeably patched and repaired. She also had a small pair of wings and a softly glowing halo. A haibane.  
"Oh, hello - Kaze I believe?" said Naoki.  
Kaze might be an attractive teenage girl, but being a haibane she was strictly of out bounds when it came to romance. This was Naoki's attitude, and in the town of Guri, where the Haibane Renmei held the balance of power, it was a very good attitude to have. So therefore Naoki was not even half as shy as he was in Keiko's presence. He could actually hold a conversation with this teenage girl. Not that he knew her to any degree, but since his parents let the Old Home haibane pick the excess fruit from their orchard, he had talked to her occasionally.  
"Hello Mr Naoki." said Kaze, "I suppose the orchard is bare of everything right now? I remember the last time we were there, the peaches were wonderful."  
"Yes, we all need to wait a while for the fruit."  
There was silence for a while as they walked along. By now the sun was fading and the first shadows were noticeable  
"I remember many highlights of my few years here, and going with my haibane companions to your orchard and gorging ourselves on fresh fruit is one of them. The end of summer, just before the cold and snow of winter, lying in the grass under the fruit trees, making little pyramids with the kernels from the all the fruit we ate, feeling bloated as we made our way home." said Kaze. She spoke softly and smiled at him. "I would like to thank you and your parents for their kindness in this regard. It's one of the things I will be missing."  
"Anyway, this is the turnoff to your house. Goodbye." she said, and walked away. And as she walked, the glow of her halo, just visible in the dusk, dimmed for a moment.  
Naoki watched her walk away with a faint feeling of puzzlement. Why was she going to miss the fruit season? And what did it mean when a haibane's halo blinked? He had an idea that he knew, but he couldn't quite recall at the moment. He shelved the question for the time being and went back to thinking about how he might strike up a conversation with a certain young lady.

After dinner his mother said "Son, would you like to come up to the study for a while, we wish to discuss something with you".  
Huh? "Certainly mum" said Naoki.

The study was lined on three sides with bookcases, filled with books. The fourth side was the exterior wall; it had a large window and several paintings on either side. The window overlooked the Western Woods, and currently showed the dim outline of the woods, lit up by a thin sliver of the moon. They sat in the sofas facing the windows.  
"Son, we are in no hurry for you to do anything like getting married and producing children - although we are certainly looking forward to having grand children - please take your time." his mother said. "But, you are just like your father, just a tiny little bit slow at getting the hang of socialising."  
She smiled and patted her husband's knee.  
"It took ages for him to work up the courage to ask me out." she said.  
"Yes, my dear. Ages. However once I did, I never regretted it." said his dad.  
"Anyway, let's get to the point, I'm suggesting it might be a good idea if you take up ballroom dancing." said mum.  
"What!" said Naoki, "But I have never danced in my life!"  
"Now, wait till I am through, please." she said. "Ballroom dancing is the perfect introduction, for someone like you, to learning to socialise with the ladies."  
"You ask a lady for a dance, if she says yes you dance with her for five minutes, and then you escort it back to her seat. And if she says no, you just get over it and ask the next lady. Provided you can dance, and you are polite and well behaved, you will never have any problems in finding partners. Unlike most of the ladies who just sit and wait for man to ask them, you can pick the ladies you want to dance with. And you can talk with them as you dance. Or if you can't think of anything to say, you just dance." said mum. "It's ideal for learning how to start a friendship with a lady."  
Naoki was going to protest strenuously, and then he remembered his inability to say a simple yes to an invitation to join a group for tea.  
"Maybe mum has a point after all?" he thought.  
His mother saw him hesitating. She closed in for the kill.  
"From my bridge club I know the couple who run the ballroom and who do the teaching. The lady of the couple says she can easily fit in one or even two lessons a week. She says that eight lessons is typical before you can get on the floor at a social dance. As well, I and your dad will pay for it."  
Naoki braced himself and said yes. In fact in went overboard and rashly committed himself to two lessons a week. He was thinking that the faster he got to the social dancing part the better.

"Excellent" said his father. "Mum will arrange it at bridge tomorrow."  
Naoki, feeling just slightly light headed after making such a decision, was just about to get up when he looked out the window and -

Out over the Western Woods a beam of light was climbing up into the sky.  
"Look!"  
The beam stayed there for a minute or two, with specks of light racing up inside the beam, and smaller arcs of light splitting off from the main beam and bending out sideways. Then the light faded out and the sky returned to darkness.  
There was silence from the three of them.  
"Oh" said Naoki, "I remember now, that's what a flickering halo means."  
"Huh?" said his father.  
Naoki described his encounter with Kaze.  
"So the haibane goes on to some other world, or life, or something?" he finished with.  
"That's what the rumours say. Whenever some human is brave enough to ask the Communicator he just answers in vague generalities, so that is the best that we can assume." said his father.  
"Do the haibane left behind miss their companions like we miss someone who dies?" said Naoki.  
"I suppose so, not that I have ever asked one." said mum.

To start off his dancing adventure, the first order of business was to buy dancing shoes. So Monday morning, during the lunch break he took a deep breath, calmed his nerves, and went to the shoe makers and ordered a pair of ballroom dancing shoes. The shoe maker's apprentice measured his feet and said:  
"We'll have these ready by Wednesday. Shall I put it on your parent's account?"

Wednesday after work he picked up the newly made shoes and started towards home. Wednesday was also the night of the social ballroom dance. However that wasn't relevant yet. Tomorrow was the big day for him; straight after work he was to present himself to the Guri Ballroom and Party Centre for his first dance lesson. He was feeling just a little bit apprehensive. No, that's a lie; he was just this side of being terrified. As he walked up the road to his house he was thinking:  
"It's only a dancing lesson.  
Oh my, what have I let myself in for?  
Perhaps I can cancel, but what do I tell mum and dad.  
If I'm lucky I might break my leg." went his internal dialogue.  
"Stupid, it's only a dancing lesson. Look at it this way; in a year's time we can look back at this and it will just be a memory. A memory of how we started dancing. And perhaps Keiko ..."  
At this point he literally walked into someone.

"Oh, sorry, sorry, I wasn't looking, sorry, my fault" he said feeling simultaneously embarrassed and stupid.  
He reached out his hand and stabilised the balance of the person he had almost bowled over. Who turned out to be another young girl teenager haibane. Realising this, Naoki went red in the face and barely managed to stammer out:  
"You OK?"  
She looked startled and a bit embarrassed herself.  
"Yes, I'm OK. It's my fault, I was walking with my head down, I was thinking about..." she said. The last part of the statement trailed off into silence.  
They stared at each other in confusion. Naoki realised he was still holding her arm, so he let her go and stepped back to give each other some personal space.

They both took a deep breath and composed themselves. They were half way along the road to the Old Home turn off, with green fields and the power lines on one side of them and a border of bushes and the river on the other. There was no one else in sight.

She was a little younger than Kaze, wearing a plain dress and a shawl, and serviceable boots. She was carrying a string bag that appeared to have two shoes in it, and a ball of wool with two knitting needles stuck into it. Perhaps the dress was one of her best, as it did not show any signs of patching.  
Having calmed down, Naoki felt it was his duty to strike up a little conversation, as a sort of apology for almost running over her. He made a guess and said  
"You are going into town for some night time work?" All good haibane endeavoured to have a job, to be seen as returning something to the community.  
"Yes" she said with a smile. "Every Wednesday I help set up the tables and chairs in the party room at the ballroom for refreshments for the dancers, and I also help serving them, and cleaning up the mess afterwards. When all of the humans are busy dancing I sit at the back of the party room and knit. I take my good shoes so I can change from my outside boots to inside shoes before entering the party room. "  
At this she pointed to the bag with her knitting wool and shoes.  
"Well, that's a coincidence. I'm going to start dancing lessons soon, so in a month's time or so I will be starting to go there myself." said Naoki with a laugh. No need to tell her any extra details, was there?  
The haibane also laughed.  
"By the way, my name is Naoki. I remember seeing you at our orchard last summer, but I can't remember the name..."  
"Mizu. My name is Mizu, it means water."  
"Pleased to meet you, Mizu."

Since she was right here, and seemed open to more talk, Naoki took the plunge and asked:  
"You don't have to answer this is you don't want to, but last Friday we saw a Day of Flight light display over the Western Woods. Hmm, could that have been Kaze?"  
Her smile faded and she looked past his shoulder, no longer seeing him.  
"Yes, that was Kaze. Her halo was flickering as she said her goodbyes to us." Mizu was now back to looking at the ground, lost in her thoughts. "Every good haibane has a Day of Flight, it is what we are here for, to master our trial, to learn whatever we need to learn, and then we go on to the next stage. I am glad for Kaze, really glad."  
She didn't look very happy. Her bag was swinging precariously as she clutched both hands together, she rocked side to side, and her face was damp.  
Here Naoki made what was either: a tactless unfeeling remark, or a strategically brilliant comment designed to allow Mizu to get in touch with her true feelings and thus facilitate her grief. He could never work out which.  
He said: "So you haibane grieve for your departed friends as much as we humans do for our departed friends?"  
Mizu's face collapsed, her body collapsed, she went down onto her knees, dropping her bag, she wailed in a voice full of anguish and pain and grief:  
"Kaze was my senpai (mentor). She found my cocoon. She was there when I first hatched. She gave me my name and my halo. She guided me on my first days in Guri. She found my first job. She was at my first breakfast and first dinner in the guest room, and most meal times for the four years I've been here. She comforted me when our friend Umi went on her Day of Flight. Every memory of Guri I have is a memory of Kaze too. To me, my life in Guri is my life with Kaze. And now she is gone. Of a course I miss her!"  
Naoki looked down at Mizu, kneeling on the road, head in her hands, sobbing out her life story. He caused her to do that? He was horrified.  
He knelt down, put his hands on her shoulders.  
"I'm sorry, I didn't realise" he noticed she was dabbing at her face with an already sodden handkerchief that was way too small for the job in hand. He took out his own hanky, still fresh and unused, and gave it to her.  
"Here, take this, it's still clean."  
He waited until she had gotten her emotions under some semblance of control.  
"Sorry again. I only asked because I actually spoke to Kaze that afternoon on my way home from work."  
"You did!" cried Mizu. She grabbed the lapels of his shirt and pulled him closer. "Please tell me what she said. What did she say?"  
Naoki did his best to repeat what Kaze had said, word by word.  
"Yes, your orchard. I hadn't thought of that particular memory until now." She wrapped her arms around herself to nurse her grief.

Ten minutes later.  
Mizu's face was still streaked with tears, but she had he emotions under control.  
Naoki made the private observation that, had his mother been crying like this, her face would have been a complete wreck from all of the makeup being ruined. But apparently haibane didn't get to use makeup.  
"As soon as I get to the party room I'll wipe my face with water. I'll be all right" said Mizu.  
"Actually, since I feel responsible, and you are not yet fully on top of things, I think I will escort you to the ballroom, just to be on the safe side" said Naoki.  
"There is no real need..."  
"Nonetheless, I will. Besides which, I shall be walking to the ballroom myself as soon as I start social dancing, and you can show me the quickest route, so it's to my advantage anyway." said Naoki.  
Actually he had been tossing up wether to stay late at work on social dancing nights and have a short trip to the ballroom, or walking all the way home, relaxing an hour after tea and walking back to the ballroom. Looks like he had made up his mind on that matter.  
"Thank you."

They were now at the entrance to the party room at Guri's Ballroom, which was in a separate building connected by a walkway to the ballroom itself.  
Mizu bowed and said "Thank you for your help". She turned and went to start her evening's work.

Naoki walked back home. Mentally he compared Mizu's distress about the loss of her companion to his own distress about starting dancing lessons.  
"Maybe doing my first dance lesson is not all that bad, after all."

The next day, Thursday, his mother was mystified to have a haibane deliver a freshly laundered handkerchief, and a thank note, for Naoki.

On that same day, half an hour after work, he had his first dance lesson scheduled. At breakfast that day he was feeling confident, especially after thinking of Mizu's grief. The dance lesson at 6:00pm was a long way off. At lunch time at work he was starting to get nervous. Just think of poor Mizu and it won't seem so bad. By knocking-off time he was beginning to suffer. By now the emotional side of his brain was thinking that Mizu had it easy. His logical side tried to make itself heard, but it didn't have much success. He walked out of the door and managed to turn in the direction of the ballroom. By now there was a full scale battle between the different sides of his brain.  
"Help, get us out of here. Go home, break a leg, anything!"  
"Just go to the lesson. It won't kill us."  
"We'll never learn anything, we're hopeless at dancing."  
"At this rate we won't learn any dancing, but at least we can learn how to just attend a lesson, and next time we can learn some dance steps."  
"I'm scared."  
"Well, at least we're honest."  
With this internal warfare happening, he walked to the front of the ballroom. There was the sign "Guri's Ballroom, Dancing Entrance". He didn't have the courage to enter, he walked past it. At the top of the street he turned and tried again. The entrance was wide and imposing, with two or three steps leading up to a large double door. One of the doors was open, visible inside was an expanse of wooden floor, mostly obscured by shadow. He took notice of this has he walked past the second time. At the bottom of the street he told himself.  
"Right, we know what the entrance looks like; we WILL stop, turn and walk up the steps and through the doors!"

An hour later he walked out of the door way, down the steps and into a now darkened street. He was trembling ever so slightly from relief as he made his way home.  
At tea time is mother asked: "How was your first lesson?"  
"Fine, mum, fine." Actually he couldn't remember a single thing about it.

At the same time, in a small kitchen tucked in one corner of the ballroom, Asako was having her tea, together with her husband Tadao. They ran the ballroom and taught most of the dancing lessons. They were in their mid forties, and had been dancing professionals for decades.  
"So", said Tadao, "how did the first lesson with the son of your bridge partner go?"  
Asako giggled. "She wasn't kidding; her son sure doesn't have much social experience. He was one of the terrified ones. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't remember a single thing from his first lesson."  
"Hopefully he'll keep at the lessons, ones like him are the ones that can benefit the most" said Tadao. He was speaking from long experience.

The second lesson on Saturday afternoon was easier, just as he had promised himself. He managed to walk straight up to the entrance, and with no more than a moment's hesitation, was through the door way and into the ballroom. As if for the first time he looked around, taking in the sight. Straight ahead was the ballroom floor, made from wooden floor boards which, he would later find out, were nailed to cross pieces that sat on rubber pads. A sprung floor; capable of absorbing the shock of a foot hitting it, without giving back a jarring rebound. At the back of the ballroom was the stage, currently occupied by a player piano and a collection of chairs and music stands. To the left and right, going down each side, where tables and chairs. To the right was the reception desk and behind it was some partitioned off rooms. One of these rooms was the kitchenette. To the left was a wide passage way that lead to the dining area, presumably this was where Mizu worked.

A lady was sitting behind the reception desk, going through some papers.  
"Hello Naoki, welcome to your second lesson." she said.  
"Hello Asako" said Naoki. Earlier in the day he had to ask his mother what the teacher's name was.

"OK, let's revise the first dances. Firstly the waltz." said Asako. They were out on the floor. Apart from themselves, the floor, and apparently the whole building, was empty. There was a faint echo to their voices as they spoke. Asako and Naoki faced each other, holding hands, they were about as far apart as it was possible to get and still keep the elbows relaxed.  
"Now, you step forward with your left foot, no the other left foot, that's right. I step back, now you step forward and then to the side with your right foot"  
And so a beginner's lesson goes.

Ballroom dancing is a strange animal. In most of an adult's life, and especially for adults in a Japanese culture, full frontal hugs just do not occur. They are saved for the extremes of anguish and grief that comes from losing a loved one; or comforting someone in pain; or welcoming some back who had been in danger; or celebrating something joyous like the birth of a new child. Alternatively they are saved for moments of passion, in relationships short or long. Yet in a ballroom dancing context; a man might have a few words conversation with a lady he has never met before, and then be dancing around the ballroom in what is effectively a full frontal embrace, before they separate and they go on to do the next dance with someone else. And experienced ballroom dancers will never even think about this contradiction. It just does not register.  
However dancing teachers who teach absolute beginners will still have to remember this. So they start with a hold that is open as possible, and gradually, as the student's dancing abilities improve, the hold will close up to the proper close position. Although, of course, different dances have different holds, not all of them are face to face.

By week three, after six lessons, Naoki was getting the hang of it.  
"OK, let's revise what you have learnt about the waltz. For a start, a proper waltz hold is one where you put your right hand onto the lady's back, over her left shoulder blade. The left arm extends sideways, the elbow is bent and the hand is held up. Technically speaking we should be in full contact down the sides of our bodies, but we won't bother about that for now."  
"Now, bend both knees slightly, while keeping the back straight, and then move the left foot forward and ..."

At tea time that night:  
"How's the dancing lessons going, son" asked Naoki's father.  
"Good, I think I am getting the idea. Sometimes I feel I am actually dancing the dance and not just stepping through memorised steps."

And at the ballroom kitchen, between lessons.  
"How is Naoki going?" said Tadao.  
"Very well, all things considered. I think he has actually got a fair amount of talent. And now that he is starting get confident, he is managing little social chats with me. By the time we can convince him to step onto the floor on a social night, I think he will have no troubles getting partners." said Asako.  
"He's going to be another social success, eh?"

It was his mother's birthday, so Naoki had the perfect excuse to walk across the road to the florist and order a big bunch of flowers. After surreptitiously checking that Keiko was manning (err, womaning) the counter, of course.  
"I would like a bunch of flowers for my mother's birthday" he said to Keiko. "What would you recommend?"  
"Hello Naoki. Well, generally you can't go wrong with roses." said Keiko with a smile, as she pointed to the bouquets of roses.  
There was another lady present, the daughter of the owner. Her name was Yoshe, perhaps a year older than Keiko. While Keiko was pretty, Yoshe was a stunner. Physically, she had everything exactly right to attract the opposite sex. She had reddish hair, and dressed in bright colours which complemented her appearance very nicely indeed. As if this wasn't enough, she was also confident and had a socially outgoing personality and was intelligent. Keiko tried not to mind all of this too much, because she liked Yoshe. Also Yoshe was safely and happily married, so she was not a competitor.  
"Hello Naoki" said Yoshe, giving him a mid strength smile.  
Because Yoshe was married, and thus no threat to him, Naoki was able to smile back and say hello.  
"I hear that you have started dancing lessons at the ballroom" said Yoshe. "I go dancing there every Wednesday, we must have a dance when you finally get around to social dancing."  
"Certainly. Although it won't be for a few weeks." said Naoki. Feeling courageous from talking with Yoshe, he turned to Keiko.  
"Do you go dancing?" he asked her.  
"No, I have thought about it..." she said.  
They had a three way conversation about ballroom dancing, and mother's birthdays, before Naoki paid for his flowers and gave them the delivery address.

Back at work, looking at another column of figures to be added, Naoki realised he just had a long conversation with Keiko, plus Yoshe, and he never once got self-conscious.  
"This ballroom dancing stuff really is working!"

At the end of his eighth lesson he asked Asako for some advice.  
"How is my dancing going? Are all of the dances I have learnt good enough for a social dance night?"  
"You are going well, your waltz and foxtrot basics will get you around the floor without annoying the ladies. As long as you produce a good lead and do the basic steps, they won't mind doing basics; they will understand that it is only a matter of time before you improve. The new vogue dances you have learnt are good enough to start with, although there are some more we haven't covered as of yet." said Asako. "Your tango, well, it needs a few more lessons, but it is the most difficult dance."  
Naoki decided to do two more lessons, then have the big night where he went social dancing for the first time.

The big night arrived. Naoki walked home, had tea, got dressed and packed his dancing shoes. He hadn't forgotten about Mizu and was interested in how she was coping with the loss of her senpai. So he decided to leave the house a little early, and wait at the junction where the track to his house joined the road to the town site. If he saw Mizu, he would pretend to have just arrived, and they can walk in together. He figured that if he was talking to Mizu, he would forget to feel nervous about the prospect of actually, finally, asking a lady to dance.

"Why, it's Mizu. That's right, you help set up the party room for the Wednesday dance." said Naoki, pretending that he had just this moment arrived at the road and had just remembered about Mizu.  
Mizu might have been a haibane first, and a seventeen year old girl second, but she wasn't totally clueless. The Renmei might have the balance of power in Guri, and Guri might be a protected and safe place, and the vast majority of men in Guri might know perfectly well that haibane girls were off limits for anything to do with romance; but seventeen year old haibane girls still had ample occasions to learn the need for some caution. Not much caution, this was Guri after all, but some. She guessed that he had probably waited for her. Nonetheless she was pleased that he had done so. She had decided that he was a nice young man, and she was also confident that he was only intent on friendship towards her.  
"Yes, that is right. So this is your first time dancing?"  
"Yes. I've been doing dancing lessons and am now taking the plunge with social dancing." said Naoki.  
"How are you and your friends going after your Kaze's departure?" he asked after a while.  
Sigh. "We are coping. It's not easy, but we are surviving. Last week we finally arranged to meet in her bedroom, and we divided up between ourselves the possessions she left behind. It's very sad, but it looks like no one is going to go Tsumitsuki on us."  
Naoki had a very vague idea what the Tsumitsuki reference was about, and decided he had better leave that topic alone.  
"So what is your most valued possession you received from Kaze?" asked Naoki.  
"Actually I was given it directly from Kaze when she told me she was going. It's a small bronze statue of a haibane, reaching upward. It looks like it is very old, and has probably been passed down through many generations of haibane." she said. She decided to keep back the bit about the statue being of a haibane reaching up to commence their Day of Flight. It felt a little too personal.  
"That's nice" said Naoki. He decided to make no mention to the fact that, no doubt, in the near future she would be bequeathing the statue onwards just before her own Day of Flight. It felt a little too depressing.

They arrived at the ballroom. Mizu went round the block to the kitchen entrance for the party room, and Naoki went up those steps and through the double doors and for the first time in his life saw the ballroom filled with people. Nobody was dancing yet, they were still arriving. Asako had been keeping an eye out for him. When he appeared, she greeted him.  
"Hello Naoki. Here, I'll show you the table where the single men gather. Of course, you can sit anywhere you please when you make new friends here, but for the first time..."  
"Also I should explain how the night is structured. There's a bracket of four dances, where each dance is always two pieces of music, so each dance is about 6 minutes long or so. Then there is the first break. Then four more dances, the refreshment break, four more dances, another small break, and then the last bracket of four dances. Snacks and drinks are available in the middle break; you walk through to the party room through that door to the left of the ballroom. The first and last breaks are mainly just to give you a rest and give the band a rest. If I can manage, I like to have a single dance with each of my students, although I hope you will understand that is not always possible."  
She led him to a table that was closest to the entrance to the party room.  
"For some strange reason, the single men always congregate at the table closest to the food." she said.  
There were already two men sitting there.  
"Hello, may I introduce Naoki. This is his first time here. Naoki, this is Haro and Shiro."  
Asako left Naoki to the tender mercies of Haro and Shiro. Up to now, he actually hadn't had any time to feel nervous. Haro and Shiro were both in their early twenties and had been dancing for some time, but they could still remember their first dances. So they did their best to calm his nerves.  
"First time hey?" said Haro. "Don't worry, we all felt nervous the first time we had to walk up to a lady and ask her for a dance. Don't be afraid of making mistakes! Just do it!"  
"It's something we all have to learn to do. And don't think the ladies have it easier. I'm told by normally reliable sources that having to sit there and wait for some man to ask them is nerve racking in itself." said Shiro.  
Haro put one elbow on the table and his opposite hand on his hip. Naoki couldn't help noticing that he had the top two buttons of his shirt undone, which in combination with his posed, exposed some of his chest.  
"Is that what the ladies like?" he asked himself. "Hmm, I really don't think that is what Keiko would be influenced by. At least I hope not."  
"Tell me" said Haro, "Are you here to score with a few of the ladies, or are you the long term commitment type, or are you just social dancing for the time being?"  
Naoki really hadn't done much socialisation. He actually felt a little shocked by the first half of this question. But he did his best to hide it.  
"Oh, I'm more for the social dancing." he said.  
"That's just like me" said Shiro. "Don't mind Haro, it takes all types."  
"Also, see that display board over there, it lists the dances for the evening. The first dance is a Merrilyn, can you do that?" said Shiro.  
"Yes" said Naoki. He was suddenly very nervous indeed. He couldn't put if off any longer, he was going to be dancing with a lady soon or he was going to be a total failure, sneak off into the night, and never dance again.  
"I always dance the Merrilyn with that lady over there, in the red and purple dress. She's here with her sister tonight, what say I introduce you to her and you can ask her for your first dance. There both married, so there's absolutely no problems!" said Shiro.  
Gulp. Naoki nodded.

Guri didn't have any recorded music technology, except for player pianos. So all music was either live, or from player piano rolls. The Toga allowed the import of sheet music and song sheets, so they were not lacking variety. On the Wednesday night dance they had a four piece band and several singers. Tadao announced the first dance, and the music started.

Five minutes later, the music stopped, he took the arm of the lady and led her back to her seat. In one of his latest dance lessons Asako had explained that it was traditional for the man to take the lady's arm and escort her back to her seat after each dance.  
"Phew, I made it. Didn't make any more than a dozen or two mistakes, either."  
The next dance was a Balmoral. There was no sign of Haro or Shiro, they were probably on the floor. He was wondering what to do when Asako caught his eye.  
"Your second dance! Let's go!"  
"Oops, your left foot should actually be outside mine at that point, try it again in the next sequence."

The first four dances were always New Vogue, which are set sequence dances where every couple dance exactly the same sequence, and it repeats for as long as the music lasts. Naoki had now done two dances, there were two more until the first, short, break. He escorted Asako back to the reception area, and was walking around the perimeter of the floor back to his chair when he encountered Yoshe. It was just as well that Yoshe was happily married. She was easily the most attractive lady on the floor, and she was dressed to suit. Because she was safe, at least from Naoki's viewpoint, Naoki was only moderately tongue tied and slightly incoherent. Just as well she wasn't un-attached and keen on Naoki, he would have probably have had an apoplectic attack.  
"Hello Naoki, remember you promised me a dance" she said as she smiled at him.  
Naoki fumbled the first few steps of the Tracey Leigh  
"Never mind, you're going fine" said Yoshe, as she took the lead just a little from Naoki.  
In ballroom dancing the theory is that the man leads the lady through the steps of the dance. In actual practice this varies dramatically. In set sequence dances the lady can dance the steps even if the man provides no lead at all. In dances like the Waltz and Foxtrot the man has to provide some lead, or the lady won't know what sequence to do next. Once the man has indicated what the next sequence is, experienced dancers, who know what they are doing, will be exchanging the lead all the time. Step by step one or the other will guide the other, thus both dancers end up dancing as one. This is what Yoshe was doing, as they went through the sequence she provided guidance to Naoki at the appropriate places, thus allowing him to dance a little bit better than his best.  
By the end of the dance Naoki was pleased at his ability.  
"You're very good", said Yoshe, and she meant it.  
Feeling proud of his achievement, Naoki escorted Yoshe back to her seat.

The next dance was a New Vogue Quickstep. Phew, he didn't know that one. He had a valid excuse to sit this one out. He needed the time to allow his emotions to settle down. One bracket down, three more brackets of four dances each to go.

Meanwhile, after dancing with Naoki, Asako had gone to the party room to make sure that everything was set up for the refreshments in the middle break. A couple of ladies were bustling around, doing the last minute food preparations. Some blokes were lifting the last of the tables into place, and there was Mizu, who was finishing each table by putting on a table cloth and a vase of flowers.  
"Yes, everything looks fine" said Asako.  
Mizu waited until the last table was in place, covered it in a table cloth and set the last vase of flowers in its middle.  
"Hello Asako. A nice man called Naoki walked with me here tonight. Is he out there dancing?" said Mizu.  
"You know Naoki? Yes, he's out there, in fact I danced the Balmoral with him."  
"That's good." At this point Mizu, who had been taking out her knitting since she wouldn't have any work to do until the middle break, asked:  
"By the way, what exactly is ballroom dancing?"  
Asako stopped in mid stride, with one foot in the air.  
"You mean you have never seen the dancing?" she said. Her eyes were wide as she struggled with the concept.  
"No, I come here and lay the tables and clean up. It has never occurred to me up to now to wonder."  
Asako put her foot back on the ground. "My dear child, that will never do. Put away your knitting and go through the passage and stand at the back and have a look!"  
Asako gently took Mizu's arm, led her out to the ballroom and left her at the corner, out of the way of anyone.

Naoki, sitting down, saw them come out. Realising that Mizu hadn't seen him, he was content to sit there and watch the dancers, and watch Mizu's reaction.

Mizu saw a large room with a high ceiling. At the far end was a stage with a musical band playing music. Down the sides of the room where tables and chairs, and people standing and sitting and talking. And in the middle area there were a lot of couples who appeared to be moving around in confusing patterns. She was perplexed and a little confused.  
Mizu focused on the couples on the floor. She realised there wasn't total disorder, all the couples appeared to be doing roughly the same patterns, and they were generally going around the floor in an anti clockwise direction. She concentrated on working out what was going on.  
She watched one couple as they went through the sequence. There was a definite pattern to how the man and the woman held each other, and how they moved from one hold to another. They were facing each other, and then they changed to shadow position, and changed again. Mizu tilted her head slightly and her face looked quizzical.  
She became aware of the music. And how the couple's feet and body position were in time with the beat. Her eyes opened wider as she took this in, she watched them intently.  
She saw another couple, who seemed to be not just stepping through the steps, but gliding. This couple was one of the best in Guri, although Mizu didn't know that as yet. Her face was beginner to register astonishment and amazement.  
She watched this couple some more, their bodies moved in time with each other and the music, they glided together and then moved apart, their arms held each other and then their arms spread apart as if to hold the entire ballroom. Some movements were slow and others were fast, but always in time. Mizu was lost in the dance, by now her body was swaying slightly in time.  
She was captivated. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Naoki had watched this progression of expressions across Mizu's face with wonder.

The music ended. The couples cleared the floor and settled in their chairs for a small rest. Naoki walked over to Mizu  
"Hello Mizu. I saw you watching the dancers. What did you think?" he said.  
Mizu slowly focused onto Naoki, standing next to her. She still looked as if she was still lost in the dance, even though the music had stopped.  
"That is beautiful, just beautiful. Is that what you do?"  
"Well, I can't do that dance yet, and even if I could, I wouldn't be dancing it as well as that truly excellent couple. But other dances I can sort of do." he said.  
"I wish I could dance like that" she whispered, mainly to herself.  
At this point Tadao announced the second bracket, and the first dance was a waltz. Naoki remembered Haro's saying of "Just do it", so on the spur of the moment he asked.  
"Why not do this dance with me?"  
"Huh?"  
He was already wondering if he was going to regret this. But he took her arm, led her to the floor, stood in front of her and said:  
"Hold your right hand in mine like this and place your left hand on my right upper arm. Now move back on your right foot, and then step back and to the side with your left..."

Toss a small pebble into a pond; the ripples move out, and subsidiary ripples occur as the various denizens of the pond make their own movements in response to the pebble, before everything gradually quietens down back to normal. So it was with the ballroom when Naoki had the first waltz with Mizu.

Yoshe's partner was leading her into the Fall Away Slip Pivot and Double Reverse Spin, a tricky little combination that Yoshe could do but she knew her partner hadn't quite mastered. So she was concentrating on giving a bit of a lead to guide him around, without being too obvious, when - a brief glimpse of Naoki's face, and a pair of charcoal wings. She lost track completely of what she was doing. She and her partner came to a stop in the middle of the floor, with other couples having to change direction and dance around them.  
"Sorry, I utterly lost the plot there" she apologised to her partner as they restarted.  
"Don't worry, I saw them too."  
They continued to dance, taking brief looks as Naoki and Mizu came into view, but pretending not to notice.

Shiro and Haro had returned to their table after taking a break outside.  
"Haro, you know how you told Naoki to 'Just Do It' when asking the ladies for a dance?" said Shiro.  
"Hmm, yeah?"  
"Well, look at who he's dancing with now!"  
"Who is he ... Holy mackerel! He's dancing with a haibane!"  
"And she is dancing very well too."

There were little disturbances across the ballroom floor and along the two rows of tables. People would see Naoki and Mizu dancing past, do a double take, nudge their companions, and then pretend not to be noticing anything when either Naoki or Mizu were looking in their direction.

Tadao and Asako were on the stage. Tadao was flipping through the player piano rolls, wondering which piece to play for the next dance while the band had a little break. His wife suddenly poked him in the ribs and said  
"Look at that!"  
"Oh wow, Naoki is dancing with Mizu?" he said.  
"Is that even allowed -" she said.  
They both abruptly stopped talking and started watching with concentration.

Now Tadao and Asako had been teaching dancing, and examining dancers for their medals, for decades. On a good day they could look at a couple across the room, a couple with just their upper bodies in view, and just know what their feet were doing. From just a glimpse they could read the totality of the couple's dance efforts. So after only a brief moment of observing Naoki and Mizu, they could see how Mizu was dancing. She started the waltz like a beginner, fumbling to get the correct foot moving in time with Naoki's. Yet within a few bars she had improved, she was moving her feet in time and the same direction as Naoki's. Naoki pushed her through a basic Spin Turn. By the third Spin Turn Mizu was moving through it as well as Naoki was. Naoki kept repeating his basic waltz routine, practicing the rise and fall in the steps as Asako had taught him. Now Mizu was copying Naoki's rise and fall. She was beginning to stretch out on her back steps, making Naoki stretch forward. Naoki finally remembered Asako saying something about body sway. By the end of the next sequence Mizu was matching Naoki's in this.  
The music came to an end and the second piece started.  
By now Mizu was dancing the steps as well as Naoki. And she was interpreting the steps, the rise and fall, stretching out on the first beat of the bar, the body sway and contra movements, the timing, and body posture, better than Naoki. The expression on her face was almost blissful. While he felt as if he had lit a candle, expecting only a small glow, but instead he received the full glare of the sun. He felt he was just barely hanging on, as he did his best to match Mizu's dancing. He danced better than he ever thought he could.

The waltz came to an end. They stood on the floor where they had stopped, both out of breath from the unaccustomed exertion.  
"That was amazing, you didn't tell me you already knew dancing" said Naoki.  
"I don't know dancing. That is, I do not have any recollection of dancing. It just came to me. It just felt natural, the only way to move. Maybe I was a dancer in my previous life? I don't know. That was wonderful. Beautiful. Are there any more dances to do?" said Mizu. She looked up at Naoki, with a pleading look.  
"Of course. The next is a foxtrot."

Asako turned to Tadao.  
"What on Guri do we have here?" she said.  
"Mizu has never had dancing lessons from anyone, has she?" said Tadao.  
"Of course not, who else is there apart from ourselves and a few of our student teachers? We've certainly never given her lessons." said Asako.  
"Haibane forget their previous lives, don't they?" said Tadao.  
"That is what the gossip says. She must have been a dancer, and a good one. I guess she has forgotten her life as a dancer, but not forgotten how to dance." said Asako.  
"Did you see how, by the end of it, Mizu was even getting Naoki to dance better than usual?" said Tadao.  
"Yes. She is good. Really really good."  
"And she was enthralled by every moment of it."

Naoki and Mizu did the foxtrot. Then the quickstep. Finally they did the tango.  
Tadao watched the first few steps as Naoki tried to lead Mizu through the tango.  
"Tadao, stop laughing! You know I have only had two lessons on the tango with him!" said Asako.  
"Sorry. It appears that even Mizu can't resurrect the tango from Naoki's current efforts." said Tadao.  
They watched as Naoki tried to do a Basic Reverse Turn. They both winced.  
Tadao couldn't stand it anymore. He hopped down off the stage, walked out to the two dancers, aligned himself with Naoki, and talked him through the steps.  
By the end of the tango Mizu was dancing a reasonable approximation of it, and Naoki, concentrating hard, was able to follow.  
"That's better" said Tadao.

"It's refreshment time! I must go." said Mizu, in sudden panic as she realised she had work to do. She ran across the floor and through the passage way to the party room.  
Naoki, shirt damp from perspiration and slightly dazed from the effects of dancing so unexpectedly well, followed at a much slower rate.

By the time Naoki had entered the party room there was a long queue of people being served tea or coffee from the counter. Serving them was Mizu and one of the other ladies. Naoki decided to just have a glass of water, and sat at the first empty table he found.  
"There were moments there, where I was really and truly dancing, not just plonking through a series of steps..." he thought. He began to realise why ballroom dancers kept on dancing for years and decades.  
"And Mizu is incredibly good. Must be from that former life haibane are supposed to have."  
The conclusion that came from this was obvious:  
"I want to keep on dancing like that! But will it be allowed?"

Mizu was thinking exactly the same thing. She was also thinking about whether or not Asako and Tadao would allow her to dance. And then there was the overriding concern, would the Communicator allow her to continue to dance? And finally, did Naoki want to do any more dancing with her. Perhaps he wanted to dance with other ladies?

Asako and Tadao were also wondering about this.  
"What do we do about this? And what about the Communicator's opinions?" asked Asako.  
"Don't know." was all that Tadao could manage at the moment.

Naoki may have started dancing purely for the long term goal of getting to know Keiko, but now he knew what it was like to actually dance, he had a secondary goal. To enjoy ballroom dancing. And if he could manage to talk Keiko onto the floor, his happiness would be complete. In the meanwhile, however-  
"The man generally asks the lady for a dance" he said to himself.  
So therefore, he waited until the queue of people for the refreshments had declined to nothing, took a deep breath, got up and walked over to where Mizu was still standing at the serving counter.  
"Mizu, ahh, that dancing was really wonderful. Um, it would be very nice, ahh, if, err, we could do some more dancing?" he managed to say without too much stammering.  
"Yes, yes, please, I would really like that." she said. "But I have some work to do now cleaning up, so perhaps in the last dance bracket? Also I have to ask Asako for permission. I haven't paid any admission to the dance after all..."  
Seeing the two talking, Asako had already made her way over and had overheard most of this. Asako loved ballroom dancing, even after two decades of teaching beginners how to plonk their way through a basic waltz, it still was her favourite pastime. So remembering how incredibly well Mizu had danced, and the look on her face as she danced, Asako was already predisposed to allow Mizu to continue dancing, they can work out the details later.  
"If you and Naoki want to dance, that's all right by me. The last bracket is fine, since Mizu normally leaves just before that anyway. Although, remember, we will have to ask the Communicator about all of this." said Asako. "But no need to worry about that now."

It was agreed. The last four dances in the last bracket he would dance with Mizu. Which left the second last bracket, four dances, unbooked. According to the dance board, they were all New Vogue, and he knew all four of them. He went back to the ballroom.  
"Right" he said to himself. "This is where I walk up to a lady I have never met in the life, say hello, and ask for a dance." In his dark imaginations over the previous few days he had feared this moment, all of the mistakes he could make, what if he couldn't remember the steps, or if he asked a lady who didn't want to dance, or even if he tripped over his own feet and collapsed to the floor in front of a lady who was not amused at all?  
"I've just had seven dances. Four with a haibane. I can do it."

He looked around. There was a middle aged lady currently sitting by herself two tables away. Take several deep breaths. Stand up, good posture, like his dancing teacher was always telling him. Here goes.  
"Good evening, may I have this dance with you?"  
"Certainly"  
They took their position for the Lucille Waltz, and away they went.  
He courteously escorted her back to her seat at the end.  
"Made it!"  
It was only when he got back to his own seat that he realised he had totally forgotten to ask her for her name or to introduce himself. He looked back at her, but she was already up on her feet for another dance with someone else. Next time he would make sure to ask her and then introduce himself properly. There was another middle aged lady sitting at another table, next to a young teenage girl. He went up to the lady and asked for a dance.  
"You dance very well, and normally I would say yes, but my foot is aching, I need to rest for a few dances." she said, "However my niece here, Anzu, has just learnt the Swing Waltz, would you be so kind as to give her a bit of practice?"  
"Certainly" he said. He didn't know quite what to think about this, however he would do his best.  
This time he introduced himself to both ladies. He danced the Swing Waltz with the girl and escorted her back to her aunt. He decided he had enjoyed being in the teacher's role for once, even if it was just a practice dance.  
The first lady was back at her seat. Naoki decided he just had to do the correct thing. He went over.  
"Sorry, the first dance I had with you I totally forgot to introduce myself. I'm Naoki."  
"This is you first time here, isn't it? My name is Kikumi."  
"Hello Kikumi. And since I'm here, would you like another dance?"

Three dances down, one dance to go.  
He didn't have to do anything. The lady of the couple who were the best dancers on the floor during the New Vogue Quickstep walked past, stopped and just asked him for a dance. Her name was Aoiko.  
Four dances down. His first night, and already he had danced with four excellent dancers (Asako his teacher, Yoshe, Mizu and Aoiko), plus managed to ask a couple of other ladies for a dance for the first time. And now it was four more with Mizu.

The programme for the last bracket varied from night to night, this night it was all New Vogue Foxtrots. Naoki knew them all, and as before, Mizu started off not knowing the dance, and by the end of each dance was dancing it as well, or better than, Naoki.

The music finished for the last dance of the evening. Naoki changed out of his shoes and waited at the table while Mizu rushed to the party room to get her stuff. She came back, sat down and changed her shoes. At this point Asako came past.  
"Mizu, may I have a look that those shoes?" she asked.  
"Sure." said Mizu, slightly puzzled.  
"Hmm, these are proper dance shoes. Some dancer must have donated them to the thrift shop, that's where you got them, correct?" said Asako.  
"Yes, I went there specially to buy shoes for this night. All of the other places I work out don't require them." said Mizu. "As soon as I saw them I just knew they were what I needed."

They gathered their things together and left the ballroom and walked towards home. They walked in silence up to the start of the farming districts.

"We need to discuss this." said Naoki.  
"Yes"  
"I would like to say..." said Naoki. He was glad the moonlight wasn't strong enough to show his blushing.  
"I know how it is with you haibane, you're here for a short time and then you go..." he continued.  
"I don't want to stuff up your Day of Flight, or anything like that..." he was now beginning to stammer.  
"So I would just like to reassure you that I don't have... Any, ahh, you know, ... romantic feelings towards you. I just really like dancing with you... I hope we can be friends. In fact I already sort of like a lady called Keiko, she works with Yoshe. But don't tell anyone that please! I haven't even told Keiko yet, I don't know what she thinks of me." he managed to finally say.  
"So, anyway, I hope we can dance like that some more" said Naoki

"I hope we can dance again too. I really do. I don't think that Asako and Tadao will mind. But there's the Communicator..." said Mizu.  
"If you can reassure him about my motives, why should he object?" said Naoki.  
"All he is concerned about is that us haibane achieve our Day of Flight. They have their guidelines that have worked in the past. But, somehow, I don't think their guidelines mention anything about ballroom dancing." she said.

They walked some more.  
"I think I shall be called to the temple in the very near future." said Mizu.  
"Please keep me informed, either directly or by the mail." said Naoki.

They parted company and each went to their separate homes.

Meanwhile, at roughly the same time, Asako and Tadao were also discussing this topic.  
"You remember when the Communicator came here and had a discussion about haibane when we first started employing Mize?" said Tadao.  
"Of course. He was quite definite that we contact him if anything unusual happened." said Asako. "And this is certainly unusual."  
"We both fully agree that she is a truly excellent dancer, OK?" said Tadao.  
"Of course." said Asako. "And in my opinion as a female that runs a ballroom dancing social, I don't think that Naoki has any intentions beyond dancing and friendship..."  
After a little while they managed to compose a letter describing the situation. They put it in the post, addressed to The Communicator.

Asako and Tadao had their talk with the Communicator. He had communicated back by letter, requesting their presence at one of the meeting rooms in the Guri Bank and Treasury building.

"This is unusual. But generally our guidelines in such cases is that we can't interfere too much in a haibane's choices of what they do in their life." said the Communicator after thinking for a while.  
"However, we also do our best to set things up the way we like. Accordingly I make the following stipulations..."

Mizu had her talk with the Communicator.

"What do you think of Naoki?" asked the Communicator.  
"Well, he is a really only an intermediate level dancer, however he dances very well with me. He is good enough to generally match my interpretation of the dance, with a little guidance from me. Of course, as yet he doesn't know too many sequences, but he is doing two lessons a week, so it is only a matter of time. Sometimes he can't keep up with some of the high speed steps, but overall I really enjoy dancing with him." said Mizu.  
"And what is he like as a person? Asked the Communicator.  
"Oh, sorry, is that what you meant the first time?" said Mizu, with a certain amount of embarrassment.  
"Ah, he is a very nice young man. And he has already told me that he is keen on a certain young lady named Keiko, who as yet does not know this. Hmm, he also asked that I don't tell that to anyone, so if you can keep that bit confidential?" continued Mizu.  
"I think I can do that." said the Communicator. He was probably smiling at this point, but since he was wearing his face mask, who can tell?

Asako sought out Yoshe at her shop and had a short discussion. She also took every chance she had to talk to any of the dancers of the Wednesday night social that she might meet beforehand. On the next Wednesday night, she and Yoshe could be seen walking around, greeting the men as they arrived, and saying a few words.

Mizu and Naoki walked in to Guri together.  
"I had my talk with the Communicator." said Mizu.  
"And?"  
"I'm allowed to dance with you."  
"That is so good!"  
"Yes it is. However there are some stipulations, to which I don't think you will mind - they are:"  
"I can only dance with you, only on Wednesday nights, and I am not allowed to have any lessons."  
"Apparently Asako and Tadao will ensure that the word gets around that no one else is allowed." said Mizu.  
"Hmm, I don't mind those at all. Also, lessons are moderately expensive, so the Renmei wouldn't want to pay for them anyway. Not that you need any."

That Wednesday and every Wednesday for the next few months Naoki danced with Mizu in the second and fourth bracket. In the other two brackets he danced with a number of ladies, including all of the ladies he had danced with on his first night. Within two weeks the other dancers had gotten so used to seeing a pair of charcoal wings gliding across the floor that they didn't take much notice. This was Guri after all; humans were very considerate towards haibane. Let's look at some scenes from this time.

For example, the only time that any human showed any unpleasantness towards Mizu:  
The man had been drinking just a tiny bit too much. In the previous dance he managed to step on his partner's shoes several times, and she had politely but firmly refused to have another dance with him. He looked around for another victim and came face to face with Mizu, who was waiting while Naoki had a quick drink of water.  
"Hello, how about a dance?" he said, stepping right up to Mizu.  
Mizu could smell the alcohol on his breath. She cringed and shrank back and said no.  
"Oh, come on, you were dancing with that other bloke..." he said, only to be interrupted by Yoshe. She saw what was happening and had decided to take prompt action.  
"She is not allowed to dance with anyone else." she said.  
"Who says so?" said the drunk. He didn't get much further than that, since the nearest four men had also promptly stepped in. One of them gently pulled Yoshe back out of the way. By the time Naoki came back, Yoshe was talking to Mizu and, just a little to one side, there appeared to be five men having an earnest discussion about something.  
"What's that about?" asked Naoki.  
"Oh, nothing", said Yoshe, "You had better hurry back to the floor, the next dance is starting."

And then there was the incident of the birthday gift:  
Naoki managed to achieve the fine art of holding a conversation with a partner while dancing. This is a little trickier than what one might think, it requires that the dance steps and its interpretation to have been learnt so well that it becomes mostly a muscle memory. During the easier parts of a New Vogue dance, he and Mizu were having a discussion about birthdays.  
"For my mother's birthday I sent her some roses. Actually I ordered them from Keiko at Yoshe's flower shop and they were delivered." said Naoki. "Do you haibane celebrate birthdays?"  
"Mostly we do, that is the anniversaries of our cocoon hatchings. Since we don't have much in the way of material possessions, we tend to just have a celebratory meal together, or dine out." said Mizu. "In fact my anniversary is Wednesday next week. I will be entering my sixth year in Guri."  
Naoki decided he would remember that date.

The Wednesday night after this conversation they were walking home.  
"Mizu, I remembered that this is your birthday, I mean anniversary, so I, err, I hope you don't mind, but, as a token of our friendship I brought you a little brooch. You always wear a nice dress without any ornaments, I think the brooch would look good..." said Naoki, feeling just a little self conscious.  
"Oh, you remembered! This is very kind of you. But - but - I not sure I can accept it. That is us haibane are not allowed to have anything new. Please don't take it badly. I, I can only follow the rules the Renmei set down."  
"Not even as a gift?" said Naoki.  
"Sorry, sorry" said Mizu. She hung her head and twisted her hands together.  
"Oh - OK" said Naoki. He didn't feel OK; in fact they were both feeling miserable. They walked along in mutual embarrassment, and when they came to the turn off, there was only a muted "see you" from each as they parted.

When Naoki got to his room, he took out the brooch, wrapped it up in a cloth and stashed it away at the back of his bottom drawer. He was going to pretend it didn't exist. He sat on his chair and brooded about the attempted gift. He had made a faux pas and his confidence was taking a beating. After a while, he managed to realise that the only person beating up his confidence was himself.  
"Right, I will stop being stupid here." he said to himself.  
But it still left the problem that Mizu was probably also not feeling too good about this. This worried Naoki so much that he wrote Mizu a little note, containing a short and simple apology, and expressing the hope that dancing will be as usual next week. He felt he had to get this delivered as soon as possible; otherwise he wouldn't be able to relax. So, there and then, he snuck out of the house without disturbing his parent's sleep, walked up the hill, put the letter containing the note into the Old Home's letter box, and returned.

The next day, after returning from his dance lesson, he found that his mother had placed a letter on his bed.  
"It's OK, I understand. See you as usual next Wednesday." It read, and was signed by Mizu.

That weekend, Naoki remembered something.  
"Mum, you know that old brooch with the small crack in it, which used to be Granny's?"  
"Sure, it's in the back of the junk drawer somewhere. Why?"  
"Well, Mizu always wears a plain simple dress at dancing; I thought that a colourful brooch might make it look better, since all the other ladies are always dressed up."  
Naturally Naoki wasn't going to say a thing about his original gift idea.

That Wednesday, on their way to dancing, Naoki tentatively brought up the topic of gifts again.  
"Can you accept a gift that is no longer wanted by the current owners and is second hand?"  
"Yes, of course. Unwanted and second hand is part of the basic Renmei guidelines. It is one of the first things we learn."  
"Well, perhaps you can accept this brooch, it used to be my Granny's, and no one wants it because it is a bit worn and has a small crack, although at arm's length and in the subdued lighting of the ballroom, no one will ever see."

Later that night.  
"Hello Mizu" said Yoshe. "Why, you have a pretty ornament for your dress. It goes well."  
"Thank you" said Mizu.

And then there was the time that Mizu introduced a new dance to the Guri ballroom scene:  
The Wednesday night dance had a rotating roster of singers. They didn't sing for all of the dances, but it was enough to add variety.  
"Tonight, our old crooner is back, by popular demand. For his first song you can dance a quickstep to this, but since it isn't a proper quickstep tempo, I'm adding this as an extra dance to the end of the second bracket."  
Mizu and Naoki were already on the floor. Neither had heard this particular singer before, so they waited with interest to see what he was like. Up on the stage a middle aged, somewhat overweight man in a white glitter suit strode out onto the stage. He struck a pose, twanged out a few chords on his guitar, then launched into a melodious and virtuosic rendition of "Don't be Cruel". Exactly how he came to be singing in downtown Guri is a story best left for another day.  
Naoki was going to take a Quickstep hold when Mizu stopped and frowned.  
"This isn't a quickstep. It's a - a -"  
Short silence.  
"A Jive!"  
"What's a jive?" asked Naoki. The dancing books imported via the Toga had New Vogue and Modern dances; they didn't cover any Latin American.  
"Not sure..." said Mizu.  
She stood there, moving slightly to the beat. She started moving her feet, and soon was doing fast triple syncopated foot work. She didn't have a clue as to what might happen next; she just let herself go with the music.  
"It's a line dance" she managed to say between breaths. "No hold, everyone does the same."  
She was now dancing, and repeating, a complicated routine. The crooner up on stage, in a non-vocal part of his song, shouted out  
"Go Mizu!", and added a few more verses.  
Naoki was attempting to imitate the dance. He discovered that if he fudged the fast syncopations, he could produce an approximation to the overall dance. Yoshe joined in. Being a better dancer, she managed to get more of it, but she was still bluffing her way through some of the trickier parts. By now most of the ballroom was watching, and most of the other dancers, who had been forcing the quickstep to the song's tempo, had given up and were either watching Mizu or trying to copy her. Aoiko and her partner took notice, and stepped on the floor and managed to get through most of Mizu's sequence. Finally Asako, who had been watching with intent concentration the first few minutes of Mizu's dance, started. Being a dancing professional, she managed to get most of it correct within a few sequences. Tadao, watching from the stage, had grabbed a pencil and rapidly scribbled down a description of the moves on the back of a programme.  
The singer at last came to the end of his song.  
"Everyone give a big hand for Mizu's Jive." he called out.  
Everyone did. Mizu, still panting from the fast exercise, looked around. She was momentarily the centre of attention. She couldn't decide if she was embarrassed or gratified.  
Finally, to her relief, Tadao called out the next dance.

During the week Asako and Tadao received quite a few inquiries about teaching Mizu's Jive. They went to the ballroom one morning and between the two of them managed to dance it and to produce a decent script for it. They sat a table and looked the script over.  
"Hmm, it's actually pretty complicated. Your average social dancer will never want to put in the work to get up a decent standard." said Tadao.  
"Then, let's make two versions. The social version and the advanced version. Make it so that they both are the same length and can be danced together at the same time on the floor. We teach the social version in the group classes and the advanced version in our individual dance lessons." said Asako.

Next Wednesday the dance programme had a new addition. A single Mizu's Jive, added at the end of the second bracket. Naoki had spent his previous dance lesson learning the advanced version.

During this time Keiko had worked up her resolve and started dancing lessons:  
"Hi Yoshe" she said one morning as they both opened up the shop. "I've finally decided to do some dancing lessons myself. I start Monday afternoon. And, by the way, how is Naoki doing with his dancing?" This last bit was added as if it was a casual after thought.  
Yoshe turned her head and arranged some flower vases, to hide her smile.  
"Oh; he's actually doing very well. He's got the hang of asking ladies for a dance, and he is getting to be a good social dancer. In fact he dances a lot of dances with excellent dancers, like me and also with much better dancers."  
"And in a strange turn of events, he actually dances half of the dances with a haibane. Who is exceptionally good. Like professional level good. Must be from her previous life."  
"A haibane? Who is exceptionally good?" said Keiko in dismay. "How can I compete against that?" Keiko stopped when she realised what she had just said.  
"I mean, ah, I thought I might have a dance or two with him, that is, when I finally get to the ballroom. Ah." she trailed off in confusion.  
Yoshe raised her eyebrows, and said nothing.  
Sigh "OK, so I gave myself away there. Please don't tell anyone." said Keiko. "But nonetheless..."  
Yoshe gently touched Keiko's hand. "Don't worry about it. I am sure Naoki has no romantic intentions towards Mizu. Being an attractive woman, and having danced as a single lady and a married lady, I have become a good judge about such matters."  
"I'm sure he will be happy to dance with you as soon as you get yourself to a Wednesday night."

Mizu managed to meet Keiko:  
Mizu had been thinking about her own pending Day of Flight. She didn't know when it might occur, but when it did, she realised that Naoki would be left with a gaping hole in his dance programme. She knew how sad she felt at the flight of Kaze.  
"I wonder if this Keiko lady does dancing. Is there any way I could encourage her?"  
She resolved to accidently on purpose call on Yoshe at her florist shop. At the very least she could satisfy her curiosity about who Keiko was.  
She often passed by the florist on her way to her various jobs. So the next time she took a quick look through the window. There were two ladies behind the counter, Yoshe and another one. She opened the door and walked in.  
"Greetings Yoshe. I hope you don't mind, I saw you behind the counter and got curious about your job as a florist."  
"Greetings to you to. Please come in. This shop is actually owned by my parents, I started by sweeping the floor as my parents worked behind the counter, and now I have graduated to running the day to day operations. And by the way, this is Keiko, who also works here."  
"Hello Keiko. I know Yoshe from ballroom dancing. Originally it was just from serving her tea at the refreshment break, but now I have started dancing with a man called Naoki, I also see her dancing. She is a very good dancer."  
"Hello Mizu. Yoshe has told me about you, you are a very good dancer yourself."  
"Yes, must be from my previous life. Do you go ballroom dancing?" said Mizu.  
"I have started lessons. As soon as I am good enough, I intend giving the Wednesday night a go."  
"That's good! I'm sure Naoki will be happy to dance with you too!" said Mizu.  
"But he's so busy dancing with you and all of his other social partners" said Keiko.  
"Nonetheless, I don't think you will have any problems. After all, at some point I won't be around anymore and he will have plenty of spare dances..." said Mizu.  
Mizu suddenly stopped in confusion and a certain amount of dismay. Talking about one's own Day of Flight with almost strangers felt very strange.  
"That is, err, I'm sure Naoki will dance with you." her face red, she backed out of the shop and hurried away.

As she went away she reflected on what she had said. She still felt - strange - about implying she might have a Day of Flight soon. Did she make a fool of herself? She wasn't sure. But, on the other hand, if her aim had been to encourage Keiko to dance, she had certainly done her best to do that. Perhaps the meeting had gone well after all.

Back at the shop, Yoshe and Keiko looked at each other with a touch of wonder.  
"Did she mean she might be going on her Day of Flight soon?" said Keiko.  
"Possibly, at some stage I suppose she will." said Yoshe.  
"Is that sad, or what? I mean, they never come back so..."  
"Well, it is certainly sad for those left behind..."

Discussing this with her husband that night, Yoshe said  
"The more I think about it, the more I believe that she deliberately visited to say something to Keiko."

Over the next month or so, Keiko continued her lessons, and Mizu and Naoki continued to dance each Wednesday night. Until, one Thursday late afternoon:  
There was a ding from the front door bell at Yoshe's house. Her husband answered the door and was surprised to see a haibane standing there.  
"Honey, Mizu is at the front door."  
"Huh!?"  
Mizu and Yoshe stood on the veranda.  
"Yoshe, I won't be here next Wednesday. In fact I'm going tonight. I thank you for your kindness and friendship to me. If I may, I like to make a request; that you do your best to get Keiko and Naoki to have a dance together." said Mizu, looking earnest and solemn.  
"Yes - yes I will." Yoshe managed to say.  
"Thank you. I am now going to have a last talk with Naoki. I have already said goodbye to my haibane family." Mizu lightly touched Yoshe's arm, and was gone.  
A few minutes later Yoshe walked back into the house.  
"Why are you crying?" asked her husband.

Mizu had timed it so that, as she waited on the road at the turn off to Naoki's house, she would be meeting Naoki as he walked home from his dance lesson.  
"Oh, hello Mizu. I didn't know you had any work on a Thursday night?"  
"I don't." said Mizu. "I feel I have achieved what I needed to do here in Guri. The dancing of the last few months, and your friendship, has provided a wonderful culmination to my life as a haibane. Thank you very much."  
"I would like you to promise that you will keep going dancing on Wednesday" she added.  
Naoki stood there, still as a statue, and looked at her. She looked back, with a look of sadness at saying goodbye, and a touch of quiet joy at the prospect of her Day of Flight.  
Naoki took a few moments to get his mouth in working order, and then said "Yes, I promise."  
Then he stood straight, reached out with his left hand. As she took it in her right, he moved the hand to the left. She stepped in, put her left hand on his upper arm, gripping his biceps with her thumb and 4th finger, with her little finger raised and with the 2nd and 3rd fingers straight. She straightened her body up, leaning back slightly. Naoki's right hand was on her shoulder blade, he then twisted is upper body slightly to the left. She followed, they both looked slightly upwards and out from each other. They were now in perfect ballroom dance hold for a waltz.  
"Thanks for the dances." he said. Her halo flickered.  
For a moment they were still, and then they broke hold. Mizu turned and walked off into the dusk.

Naoki got home. He went past his parents without word, went upstairs to his father's study, took out a chair from the desk, put it in the middle of the room facing the window, and sat down.  
His parents walked through the door and stood just inside, looking at each other in wonderment.  
"Mizu is walking out to the ruins in the Western Woods right now. I want to see her depart." said Naoki, without turning around.  
His parents held each other's hands, and sat on the sofa, which was behind Naoki.  
Nobody said anything more.

An hour and a half later Mizu's departure lit up the sky above the Western Woods.

His parents waited a little and then his mother said.  
"We'll go now, but if you need us, don't hesitate to call."  
"Ok, mum and dad."

He cancelled his lessons for the next week, but on Wednesday, as promised, he presented himself at the ballroom. As usual, just before the programme started, it was full of people. And to Naoki if felt empty. He sat at the single men's table and put on his dancing shoes. If he had looked around he might have noticed Yoshe moving around, having a little talk with some of the ladies. But he just stared at the table. Tadao announced the first dance.  
"Well, I suppose I have to find someone to dance with." he thought, but couldn't quite make the effort to get up.  
"Hello Naoki. You can't sit there moping all night, how about a dance?"  
He was startled out of his riviere by this voice from behind him. Turning around he realised that Kikumi was asking him for a dance.  
"Certainly, I shall be delighted." He didn't really feel delighted, but he did appreciate the effort she was making.  
At the end of the dance he took her back to her seat, and was immediately waylaid by the aunty of Anzu.  
"She has now just learnt the Tracey Leigh. Could you perhaps give her some practice?  
"Of course" He liked this little teenage girl, and how she was gradually learning to become a competent dancer.  
The third dance was claimed by Aoiko.  
"Thank you for that" said Aoiko, who promptly handed him over to Yoshe. She took his arm and led him back out to the floor. They danced the Carousel, by this time, what with his lessons with Asako and practice with Mizu, Naoki was one of the best male dancers for this dance.  
"Very good. Now if you can come with me, I would like to introduce you to someone you know."  
She took has arm and they marched across the floor, to Yoshe's table. And at her table was - Keiko. Her first social dancing night.

"Hello Naoki. I'm sorry to hear about the departure of Mizu." she said.  
Naoki looked at Keiko sitting at the table. She looked a little nervous.  
"It is very sad, but I will have to live with it. Is this your first night?" he asked.  
"Yes, I'm still not very good..."  
Naoki thought she looked beautiful, and he remembered why he had started dancing in the first place.  
"Well, perhaps you would like to try a dance with me and get a bit of practice?"  
He led her out to the floor. They took up the dance hold, with a small amount of guidance from Naoki.

The first dance. The fateful first dance. Some first dances never lead to anything, the two move on to other partners. Some result in an occasional social dance, and maybe one day one partner fails to turn up and the other just dances with other partners without worrying much. Others result in a dancing friendship, a regular dance once or twice a night, maybe for years. Perhaps one will end up visiting the other in a hospital sick bed as their last meeting, of perhaps they will hear, from a mutual acquaintance, of the other's passing away. Some dance partners become firm friends, sharing their life stories, visiting each other's homes, possibly babysitting each other's pets or children. Some dancing friends will cool off and they lose track of each other, or maybe they will last for a life time. And, of course, the occasional dancing partnership will lead to romance, short or long term. The lucky ones end up marrying, sharing a life, and children, with all the joys and pains that this entails.

Naoki had a dance, the first dance, the first of many, with his future wife.


End file.
